When I wake up in the morning it is dark and at night the sun is down by 6:00 pm. The mornings and evenings are getting cold, middle of the day is not bad. Last week we had a major rain storm. My son left for Wilderness Therapy the end of May, not a bad time if you need to send your teen away. From experience I know Wilderness is not something you can say we will do it when the weather gets better.
I think about those kids at Second Nature during this time of year, what is it like for them? The program sends weekly pictures how do the kids make it? Do they go through the program faster in the colder months? Leave a comment if you have experienced Wilderness Therapy in the winter or if you have had to send your teen away during this time of year. What is it like for the staff? Do they get nicer accommodations?
Personally I am not sure if I would have made different choices for our teen if we were looking during the winter, but then again maybe not.
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I recently got home from a wilderness therapy program. I had drug abuse issues, self-esteem issues, and poor family structure, I was in the national forest for part October, November, and December. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.. I made it home for new years with my family. the winter was rough. We hiked about 8 miles everyday through the freezing rain and snow. Some days I literally could not see a foot in front of me. I am not a whiney person… I did not complain much during my treatment, but it was rather grim. I felt our gear was a insuffiencient. I had a -15 degree sleeping bag for most of my stay, during the sleet and snow and frost. I got frost bite on my toes and Hypothermia. Defrosting my toes was the most painful experience of my life and I didn’t get to go to the doctor for it. One of my “sisters” from the group also got frost-bite from having to wear wet boots that got wet during the night, mind you, the boots were inside her sleeping bag- it was just raining and sleeting that hard. It was rather miserable most days.
For three days I didn’t get water because we had hiked so far out into the back-country, there was no radio signals. The water-source was frozen over, and even if we had water, the water filter instantly froze every time we set it up. We had to chip ice off of the ground and boil it over fires in rusty paint-cans to get water, because our cooking pot got lost… and we were too far from base camp to get a replacement. We didn’t get to sleep under tents, until mid-December. Until then we slept under tarps we called “indie shelters”, it was our responsibility to make sure our shelter would withstand the high-power wind and ice during the night- which was usually impossible.
However, I am pleased with my experience and feel tougher than ever. I gained a lot of patience, self-control, insight, anger-management, perseverance, and humility. Part of my program was having to strike fires with steel and rock… so yes I got through my program a little faster I think, because I wanted a fire!
Wilderness Therepy in the winter is the best thing I have ever done. I was a student in Second Nature Cascades for 24 weeks A LONG TIME and i got used to the wilderness enviorment. and wish i could be back there now. wilderness therepy is the best thing to help people in the world. dont make the mistake of sending your child somewhere like Pacific Quest or any of the other “cushy” programs. but also please dont make the mistake of sending your child to a “lock Down” facility like Oakley, Islandview, Vista. these programs do more harm than good in most cases. there are some children who need that kind of structure. however the vast majority of the students in the programs are getting hurt. if you are a parent and would like more information i would be happy to share the details of my treatment career with anyone who has a child in the situation i was in.
i was addicted to drugs and was severely depressed
About wilderness therapy in the winter, I sent my son to a wilderness program in Oregon last March. As I write those words, the memory of that time comes crashing in on me. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. And now, eight months later, I know it was absolutely the right decision. After the wilderness program, my son attended a therapeutic boarding school (Santiam Crossing, in Oregon) and is close to graduating. He has made amazing strides. Of course, I realize his coming home will be the beginning of a new challenge…
I actually thought March would be “spring” (almost) and so not so bad, weather-wise. Wrong. I didn’t realize they went into the mountains and that those mountains get a lot of snow in March. So my skinny 15-year old spent 5 weeks snow-shoeing through the snow and sleeping in a hole with a canvas shelter (a “mid”) over him.
The staff were extremely attentive to keeping the kids warm and well-fed. I think the snow and cold added an element of “insulation” to the whole expedition–it wasn’t about socializing or telling stories–it was about going inside and looking at your life. Doing it in the snow–with not much to look at but snow and more snow–intensified the experience.
I thought he’d never want to snowboard again! But no, he says it hasn’t put him off…
I have worked for several of these wilderness therapy companies as field staff since 1989 and the programs in the earlier era’s were not as highly regulated by the state as they are now. It is unfortunate that it took a few (in my opinion) preventable deaths to make some healthy changes to the programs here in Utah and all states. I know that the only way anyone will ever make positive powerful long lasting change is if they want it bad enough to do whatever it takes to get the results they want. I have never been the parent or the child in your position yet I have spoken and listened to many. The wilderness no matter what time of year can offer significant challenge and like life it is through those challenges that our true colors show up and we see what we are truly capable of. I hope this helps. I would be willing to offer much more however I am trying to be brief out of respect for the time to read this.
We sent our son to wilderness therapy on December 28, 2008. He relapsed while he was in an outpatient program and refused to do what the outpatient program was asking of him. We felt we had no choice.
To answer your questions. How do they make it? In my son’s progam they were given layers and layers of clothes and special liners for their sleeping bags. They were also given good boots and hats. No they don’t go through the program any faster in the winter. He was there for 8 weeks. The staff live under the same conditions as the kids, BUT they are rotate out every week. Also, it seemed to me they picked a place in the Utah desert that was cold, but did not get a lot of snow.
As part of his graduation in February, we had live under the same conditions he had been living under for a few days. I was frankly very worried about this, but we ended up having a terrific time. We were plenty warm, but stiff from sleeping on the ground.
My son ended up moving on to a residential treatment program in Oregon where he is doing well. I don’t think his current program would be working as well if he had not done the wilderness therapy first.